As an undergraduate Chinese Government Scholarship recipient and a genius, no one knows this question better than I do lol.
The Coverage of the Chinese Government Scholarship
The Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) covers tuition, accommodation, stipend, and comprehensive medical insurance if it’s a full scholarship. You can get these both during your prep studies and during your major studies. Let me explain to you the details of the coverage of the Chinese Government Scholarship below.
Tuition: exemption from tuition, which means you do not have to pay any fees for the school education, management, and also no need to pay for any visits or activities organized by the school.
Accommodation: free accommodation means that the school will provide you with a free dorm (usually a double room) or issue you a subsidy for accommodation to live on campus or off-campus. When I was studying undergraduate preparatory (Chinese language) courses at Tianjin University, the school provided me with a free dormitory. And when I came to Zhengzhou University to study undergraduate courses, the school did not provide me with a free dormitory but gave me a monthly accommodation subsidy of 700 yuan (or 2100 yuan/quarter). I can use the 700 yuan to pay on-campus dormitory (450 yuan/month for a bed in my building at Zhengzhou University) or off-campus apartment. But not all schools allow international students to live off-campus. For master's students, accommodation subsidy is also 700 yuan per month. And for Doctoral Student, it's 1000 yuan/month. If you do not arrive at the school during the school's prescribed period, you may need to arrange your accommodation.
Stipend: Bachelor/preparatory students (2,500 yuan/month); Master’s students/general scholars (3,000 yuan/month); Doctoral students/senior scholars (3,500 yuan/month). The stipend is paid by the school every month. If the scholarship recipients register at the university before the 15th of the current month (including the 15th), they will be given the whole stipend that month; If they register after the 15th, they will be given half of the living allowance that month; After graduation, the school will continue to pay your living expenses for up to half a month and then stop paying; If scholarship recipients leave China for more than 15 days due to personal reasons during the semester (except normal holidays), their living expenses will be suspended. During the pandemic, most students who cannot return to China do not receive a living allowance.
Comprehensive Medical Insurance: According to the relevant regulations of the government, international students who study in China for more than six months must purchase medical insurance which costs 800 yuan/year.
CSC Partial scholarship covers one or some items of the full scholarship above. Although very few students get partial scholarships, I have indeed seen that happen before. Now, are you clear about the coverage of the Chinese Government Scholarship? If you are clear, then just try your best to get full scholarship in China or you can go to the CSC website to reconfirm what I just mentioned above.
Expenses not covered by the Chinese Government Scholarship
Instead of asking what CSC Scholarships cover, ask what CSC Scholarships don't cover also makes sense. I am about to tell you specifically about my experience of coming to China to study, and then you will understand everything.
Before I get to school to complete my registration, I can't get the stipend in advance. So I need to buy my air ticket to China. Transportation costs from the airport to school, such as subway/bus fees, or taxi fees, also need to be paid by yourself. Before getting your first month’s living allowance, you need to prepare some money yourself to pay for transportation, food, SIM card & phone bill, bank Card handing fee, visa, and medical examination fee, etc. I arrived at school at the beginning of September. Then in October, I got my living allowance for the two months of September and October together after completed all the registration processes. What’s more, the cost of each visa application (about 400~1000 yuan/time), HSK examination fee, and book fee are not free for Chinese Government Scholarship recipients. Am I clear on explaining the coverage of the Chinese Government Scholarship?
The Coverage of the Confucius Institute Scholarship, Local Government Scholarship, and School Scholarship
What the full scholarship of the Confucius Institute Scholarship covers is almost the same as the coverage of the CSC full scholarship. The difference is that my friends, who have the Confucius Institute Scholarship, told me that they took the HSK exam for free. But CSC students need to pay their HSK exam fee by themselves in recent years. As for Local Government Scholarship and School Scholarship, the coverage varies from university to university. In general, a full scholarship of Local Government Scholarship or School Scholarship will cover at least tuition, accommodation, and living allowances. A partial scholarship covers one or some items of the full scholarship. Anyway, hope you can get full scholarship in China!
I hope you will be satisfied with such a talented answer. If you have more questions about the coverage of the Chinese Government Scholarship or other China full scholarship coverage, feel free to ask me again, please. Good luck!
